In various industries it is sometimes required for a worker to perform operations at great heights. Working at heights creates the obvious risk of falling and subsequent injury, possibly fatal, to the worker. Accordingly, many safety devices and methods must be in place and adhered to, to reduce the risk of injury to workers at heights.
It is common to require workers at heights to wear fall arrest equipment, such as a harness, to suspend from to perform work or to prevent them from falling large distances and sustaining significant injury. The harness worn by the worker clearly needs to be attached to a suitable anchor point capable of supporting a fall arrest load, either directly or indirectly through additional straps and various other devices, such as inertia reels. The fall arrest load rating requirements vary between different countries, however are a minimum of 15 kN (approximately 1.5 tonne) and up to 22.2 kN (approximately 2.2 tonne) in other locations, for a single person.
A commonly used point of attachment for fall arrest equipment on steel structures for maintenance is merely using a scaffold tube for an anchorage strap to pass over. The scaffold tube used is of a length allowing it to span two I-beams, with grid mesh above to provide adequate support. To prevent the scaffold tube being accidentally moved and thereby not safely anchoring a worker, scaffold fittings are placed at either end of the tube.
This method of anchoring a worker presents a significant trip hazard for those at the level of the scaffold tube. Further, it is not safety rated (or independently certified) and spanning the two I-beams is vital to ensure the load is being carried by the beams rather than merely the grid mesh.